Nursery Management: The Manager's Office - Always an open door

Sitting in his state-of-the-art office, with views overlooking London's South Bank, nursery director Guy Hanscombe attempts to get on with some number-crunching. But for the second time this morning he is interrupted.

He shares an open-plan office with the head of education, the out-of-school manager and the senior administrator at Coin Street Nursery, a 64-place purpose-built setting, part of the £9.55 million Coin Street neighbourhood centre in London's Waterloo area.

Meanwhile, in Faringdon, Oxfordshire, Liz Clements, nursery manager at the Old Station Nursery, spends the morning dealing with the operational side of the business from her compact but fully functional office, which she describes as a 'large cupboard'.

Functional space

The size and layout of a nursery manager's office varies greatly, depending on the available space, but essentially the role remains the same: it is an administration centre, and a place to touch base with staff and parents.

Sarah Steel, managing director of the Old Station Nursery, a group of 13 in Oxfordshire, Wiltshire and Lincolnshire, says, 'A nursery manager's office is a functional, utilitarian space. It should be a professional environment which is comfortable to work in. I think it's more important that it's an organised space than an elaboratelyfurnished office.

'I wouldn't expect a manager to want £1,000 for a leather chair and matching units. I would rather spend the money enhancing the space for children - and I think parents would prefer to see that too.'

Sarah says that if she built a new nursery from scratch she would have a separate room for meetings with staff and parents leading off from the manager's office. But she adds, 'In reality, many nurseries are not purpose-built and the nursery manager's office is often quite small.'

Open plan

Guy Hanscombe's office at Coin Street, like the building itself, is state-of-the-art. The natural light reflects on to the white contemporary workstations from Vitra Joyn, a company specialising in design-led office furniture. The pedestals for storage and filing are from Maine and the black office swivel chairs from Headline.

There are six workstations positioned in a rectangle in the centre of the room. Guy sits at the back of the office facing the door. The other stations are hot desks. There are usually five people in the office at any time.

The walls are painted white but there are whiteboards dotted around for notes, meetings and reminders. Children's artwork is on display, along with photos, postcards and thank you cards. There are lockable filing cabinets for staff and children's records. There is also an archiving system that stores old records in sealed boxes.

The office is separated from the corridor by a wall of glass, allowing staff and parents to see in.

Guy says, 'The biggest plus about the open-plan set-up is that if we have to discuss an individual child there can be an instant conversation with myself and the head of education. But the downside is that if I have to get on with some core work, such as number crunching, I sometimes get disturbed because parents and staff can always see if I am in the office.'

Part of Guy's role is to ensure that he is accessible. 'I am a key worker around supporting parents and staff,' he says. 'This role needs an open-door policy. There's a much closer commitment to parents in a community nursery. If they are concerned they can just pop in, they don't have to make an appointment.'

Guy has the same attitude when it comes to his staff. 'This way of working ensures that things run as smoothly as possible. It means that nothing has to turn ugly and all can be dealt with at a micro level.'

Meetings are held in one of the meeting spaces in the centre, which cater for between three and 150 people. Guy can also access these rooms if he needs to work in peace.

A nursery manager's office should be user-friendly, he says. 'There should be a good balance between minimalism and clutter. People need to see an office being used but too much clutter is not conducive.'

An essential piece of equipment for any nursery manager's office is a colour photocopier, 'to print off children's photos and artwork'.

Organised space

The Old Station Nursery is housed in a converted railway station, which was built in the 1700s. Before Liz Clements' office furniture was custom-built two years ago, it contained a desk in dark wood that she inherited from the old railway station.

Her office now has primrose yellow walls and the furniture is light beech. She says, 'It feels like a more productive place to work and conduct one-to-one meetings. The bespoke furniture allows me to be tidy and organised and it definitely looks more professional.'

The room is approximately 8ft square and has a large window covering the length of the back wall. A large desk with a movable filing cabinet underneath takes up another wall, and a purpose-built office wardrobe sits in the corner. Apart from her chair, it contains no other furniture.

Despite its size, Liz insists her office is 'compact and functional' and contains everything she needs. 'The best feature is the window, which lets in the light and faces the car park. I can see the comings and goings of staff and when visitors arrive.

'My walls are decorated with photos of my family and pets and children's artwork. I like to keep my desk minimal but it is in my nature to be more cluttered. I would describe my wall decorations as friendly clutter. I also have a teddy on top of my wardrobe, which is a good distraction when children visit with their parents.'

Liz, who trained as a nursery nurse 20 years ago, spends the first few hours of her morning in her office dealing with the operational side of the business and at lunchtime she covers shifts in the nursery.

She has an open-door policy for staff and parents. For day-to-day issues like bill payments, welfare issues or session changes, parents can pop in and deal with it on the spot. But for complaints or delicate family issues she goes to the staff room, which has sofas and tea and coffee-making facilities. Staff meetings are held in the staff room but reviews and appraisals are held in her office.

Liz says the best piece of office furniture she's bought is her wardrobe from Viking Direct. 'It has five shelves. The top three are for files and the bottom shelves contain a small photocopier and laminate machine. Everything can be packed away in here, leaving nothing on display when I have visitors.'

Equipment essentials

According to Sarah Steel, every nursery manager's office should be equipped with a large desk, more than one chair, a bookshelf, lockable filing cabinets, a good selection of shelving, a shredder and a bin. Files and reference books should be clearly named so that staff can access them when needed.

She adds, 'It's important that they have a wireless phone that they can use when they are in other parts of the building and a photocopier and laminator. A large box of tissues is also a good idea.

'Nursery managers often have to deal with upset parents when they leave their children for the first time, and many are also agony aunts to the staff.'

OFFICE FURNITURE SUPPLIERS
Viking Direct www.viking-direct.co.uk
Maine storage and filing www.maine.co.uk/personal-storage.php